Consume Me (A Burning Desire Novel) (15 page)

I was resigned to make a statement.

“Clea, Stop!”

He breathed out.

“I’m going to come in your mouth.” He
warned

His muscles flexed, then stilled. His grip
hardened. I didn’t let go, I felt him growing, his muscles contracting. I kept
on sucking him, repeatedly, until I felt a warm liquid, dripping down the back
of my throat. I swallowed the salty taste swiftly and pulled out, slowly.

I took a second to collect my thoughts,
and my breath along with it. I gaped at Landon. He was the most mesmerizing
sight I’d ever seen.

He was absolutely fascinating.

His eyes flew open, darting through me. He
fixed me for the longest time. I was taken by him, by his breathtaking gaze. I
was kneeling, yet I felt powerful; I did something to him, I pleasured him and
surprised him.

Landon extended his hand to me; I took it
and pushed to steady myself. I leveled his gaze, waiting for him to say
something, anything.

He bit at his lip, fixed me, and reached
for his clothes. I wasn’t uncomfortable, not in the least. I knew that, what
had just happened affected him on some level. It was unexpected, I could tell.
I watched him walk to his desk in silence; he grabbed a bottle of scotch and
poured himself a drink.

Landon gestured for me to join him. I
stood in front of him, my breath suddenly shallow. He pulled me to him and sat
me on his knees.

I had no idea what I was feeling at that
moment. It felt like an adrenaline shot, melting away slowly. He nuzzled my
hair, pushed my rebellious curls to the side, and turned me to him.

I eyed him quizzically.

“That was very unexpected, Miss Dane.”

Once he’d spoken, I was taken by a sudden
feel of shyness. I looked down at my twisted fingers. He held my chin and
pressed a kiss to the corner of my mouth. The lightness was unbearably soulful.

“You are the most unexpected woman.”

I wasn’t sure how to respond, so I kept
silent.

Landon took a long sip of his glass and I
felt a sudden need for one myself. I was overwhelmed; by everything, the trip,
the orgasms, the talk; but mostly by the man himself. I had no clarity
whatsoever as to what was coming next.

In the silence of the room, reality crept
over me. I had no way to explain how it turned out from that god-awful
conversation to me, giving him an orgasm in the middle of his office. He’d made
it clear about his relationship rule, and I knew I wasn’t going to accept it.

I could never indulge in such a painful
thing. I was already taken by the man, and I only knew him for no less than a
week. It was inconceivable for me to allow myself any further exposure. Six
months would have been the end of me, especially if it was also the end of the
relationship. I was a person of few words and strict convictions; getting
involved with Landon Davis and knowing, I would lose him after six months would
break me no matter what. The expectancy would’ve killed me. I would watch him
every day, and be aware that in the near future, he’d be gone. The thought was
like a poniard in my stomach.

I
pushed to my feet and faced him; I was gathering some courage to say my
goodbyes without losing my dignity. A dignity I had previously lost and worked
so hard to get back intact. I looked down at the dark and mysterious man
sitting in front of me. He was such a beautiful man, so powerful and touching.
But the truth was evident, right in front of me. Landon Davis was unreachable.
I had no idea as to why it felt that way, but I had to face the truth and get
on with my life.

“I
should leave.”

Despite all my efforts to smother the
disappointment, my voice was small and shaking.

Landon’s expression was unfathomable.

“Thank you Mr. Davis.”

I offered a small smile and he frowned.

“Why would you thank me, Miss Dane?”

He asked wryly.

“You might not be aware, but you gave me
hope. So thank you.”

He seemed puzzled, but I didn’t want to
give out more than I’d already done.

“Hope?” He repeated bewildered.

I just nodded and turned to the exit door.

“Hope for what Miss Dane?”

He insisted.

“Goodbye Mr. Davis.”

A
bright light suddenly filled the room. I winced at the stab in my eyes and pulled
the duvet over my head pushing myself further inside the king size bed of my
hotel room. My head was swimming with Landon’s words; I was unfocused and
needed the time to confront my reality.

“For god sake Clea, when did you become so
lazy? It’s almost noon.”

Jenna pulled at the duvet. The sun ripped
through my eyes and I cringed with pain; I couldn’t help the tears before I
went to bed. I was sad and tired, and hurt.

“What the hell!”

Jenna climbed on the bed and lay next to
me. I extended my hand searching for the quilt and when I couldn’t find it, I
pushed into my arms to straighten myself.

“What’s wrong?”

I asked my friend, taking the coffee she
offered me.

“I don’t know. You tell me; your eyes are
swollen. Yesterday, you left the club without us, you’ve slept through the day,
and yet, you look terribly unrested.”

“Well thank you girlfriend, what a great
polite way to tell me that I look like shit.”

I didn’t want to worry her, so I went for
a way to lighten the mood.

“You’re welcome.”

She beamed at me.

“Where are Jude and Ryan?”

“I don’t know, they said they’re meeting
some old friend of Ryan’s in Lombard.”

I was surprised.

“Lombard?”

She nodded.

“Yeah, they said we can join them if we
wanted to watch a race.”

“What race?”

The morning turned out to be weirder than
I’d expected.

“A car race; apparently, Ryan’s friend is
a racer or something.”

I couldn’t help but laugh.

I had no idea who the friend was, but I
was amused by the perspective of Ryan watching a car race in the suburbs.

“How far is it?”

I asked.

“Not too far, twenty minutes by train.”

Jenna announced.

“Are you up for it?”

I asked feeling a little excited about the
whole idea.

“Are you?”

Jenna was surprised. She knew that since
I’d witnessed my brother’s ugly race in Nice a few years ago, I’d sworn not to
watch any kind of speeding sports.

I shrugged.

“Yeah, I’m curious and I could use the
distraction.”

“Ok. But you still have to tell me
everything about your sudden mood. What happened with Mr. Davis?”

She asked bemused.

“I’ll tell you about it on the ride to
Lombard.”

I said pushing to my feet and heading to
the shower.

****

“I know I’m repeating myself, but that was
amazing.”

I squeaked getting out from the car.

They all laughed at me.

“We can tell sweetie.”

Jude nodded and climbed out after me.

“And that shirt suits you well, you’re a
real groupie.”

Ryan said, gesturing to the shirt I was
wearing.

Noah; Ryan’s childhood friend had won the race,
and when we went celebrating with him, he gave me the winning tee with his
crew’s name. It was very stylish and I loved it.

“Noah was very smitten with you two.”

Ryan continued walking. We were entering
the hotel lobby. It was almost six and we had decided on getting some rest and
head to have dinner, and maybe join Noah’s party in his condo.

“I’m sure it was difficult for him to
choose between two gorgeous women. He rooted for the cheery one.”

I shrugged and smiled at them.

“Yeah awfully cheery, I might add.”

Jenna pouted at me with a tender gaze,
which betrayed her lack of serious envy.

“Hello. Room two forty nine, please.”

I greeted the receptionist and asked for
our card.

“Miss Dane?”

He asked and I nodded.

“Can you hold on for a minute please?”

I nodded again, unsure of what was going
on.

“What’s wrong?”

Jude interjected quickly.

“I don’t know, He asked me to hold.”

“Miss Dane is in the reception.”

He spoke into his earpiece.

I looked at the receptionist in confusion,
but he went back to stare at his computer screen.

When I turned to ask him for the key card,
my eyes fell on Landon darting through the lobby. He held a dark gaze that
shook me to my core. I couldn’t decipher it; it just felt alarming, and I was
reminded of the melting pot of emotions that man had the ability to bestow on
me.

“Oh boy!”

Jenna stopped and breathed out.

“He looks pissy!

“Good evening.”

Landon greeted all of us, and then his
eyes settled on me.

“Mr. Davis.”

Jude and Ryan greeted him back.

He smiled one of those smiles that didn’t
reach his eyes.

“Good evening Landon.”

Jenna said bemused.

I thought she was just as bewildered as I
was. I didn’t expect to see him after last night. He didn’t even come to look
for me after I’d left his office. He didn’t call, didn’t text. I thought that
his message was obvious and decided that there was no point to ruin the weekend
for the others.

I managed to chase him from my thoughts
for a second or two throughout the afternoon, and made peace with my resolve to
forget about him slowly and safely.

“I thought you left.”

He said to me with a confusing tone.

“You did?”

He was disappointed that I was still
there.

“Yes. I went up to your room and called.
Then I came to see if you had checked out.”

“I’m sorry to disappoint you. You
shouldn’t have come, you could’ve checked with the reception.”

He looked at me wryly.

“I don’t think I’d ever been happier with
disappointment, Miss Dane.”

Huh?

The man wore me out. I could never really
know what he was thinking.

“What do you mean?”

I asked.

His lips twitched lightly and I knew what
was coming.

“What do you think it means, Miss Dane?”

I puffed my frustration and glared at him.
I tried to keep a sober face, although I wanted to smile. I knew how he was
going to answer, and it made me feel as if I knew him a little.

Admittedly, I was nowhere close enough to
know the man. Everything I had learned about him came straight from the
internet. Other than that, he was a total mystery; unreadable and unreachable.
He had the most mesmerizing eyes and the deftest fingers. Landon Davis was
domineering and a control freak; he held ascendancy on everything, from work to
relationships.

“Hey boo, we’re going upstairs. We’re
exhausted.”

Jude announced steering me out of my
thoughts.

“I’ll be sending everything you need in an
hour. Will that be okay for you?”

Landon addressed the rest of the group
glancing at me.

They all eyed each other. They didn’t know
how to answer. After everything that had gone down, I just assumed we wouldn’t
go and made other plans.

“Um…”

Ryan said hesitantly.

“After last night, I thought…”

I interjected with uncertainty.

Landon’s shoulders fell down. It confused
me to see him that way.

“That’s alright, I understand.”

I looked at my friends searching for a way
to capitulate the situation. They eyed me quizzically.

The truth was I hadn’t told them the whole
story about what went down in the club. I just said that it might not work
after all, arguing that we looked for different things. They didn’t insist on
any development and I was thankful.

However, his presence made me lose my
resolve. Especially; when I saw him like that. He seemed disconcerted and I
wanted to spend some time with him.

“Do you guys want to go?”

I asked; surprised by my words.

They all shrugged.

“I’m up for it.”

Jenna announced.

“What about you guys?”

I secretly begged them to say yes. I
wanted some time with Landon, but I needed them too.

Ryan nudged an unconvinced Jude and they
both agreed with a smile.

I turned to Landon and grinned at him.

“I guess we’re coming after all.”

His broad smile matched mine, and it
awakened those butterflies inside me.

“Great. Everything will be arranged for
you, gentlemen, Miss Seiter.”

He looked at me.

“Would you agree to get ready in my
apartment, or should I pick you up later?”

His tone suggested that the latter wasn’t
going to be the right answer, and the truth was, I wanted to talk to him about
the whole thing.

“I don’t mind staying with you.”

My voice was shaky.

“Good. Let’s go then. We need to talk.”

Oh?

He wanted to talk. I had no idea what was
going to be said, but I was anxious about it.

I said my goodbyes to Jenna and the guys,
then walked with Landon.

To my surprise,
we didn’t go outside the hotel. Landon walked us to the other end of the lobby
at The Victoria. I followed him, puzzled.

“Where are we going?”

I asked.

His lips twitched with an amused
expression.

“How did you come to choose this hotel,
Miss Dane?”

I didn’t understand where the question was
coming from.

“Jenna suggested it was one of Chicago’s
finest, and it was close to your office.”

I explained.

Landon’s smile grew wider and he cocked
his head with an amused gaze. I couldn’t help but smile at his delightfulness.

That was when it hit me. He was in the
hotel business.

“The Victoria is one of your hotels, isn’t
it?”

He nodded, his smile still illuminating
his face.

“What are the chances?”

He said sardonically.

“Knowing Jenna, this has nothing to do
with chance.”

I answered impressed by my best friend’s
determination. I thought it weird for her to insist on just one hotel. She
hadn’t checked more than one on the website, and didn’t even try to compare
services.

“I need to snatch her out of Columbia.”

We rode inside the elevator to the top
floor. I stole little glances in his direction. He was focused on his
blackberry. It amazed me how deeply he affected me by his presence; more so in
such a narrow setting. I could barely breathe. He was all I could focus on. His
lips were slightly parted, clearly concentrated on his task. His shiny strands
called for my hands to feel their silky touch along my fingers. I couldn’t help
remembering their feel when I’d been with him.

“See something you like, Miss Dane?”

Landon kept typing on his phone; he didn’t
even look at me.

“Not really…”

I muttered, amused.

“Is that so?”

He slid his phone in his pants and turned
to me. Swiftly, he closed the mere inches between us and pushed my curls away.
His touch made me shiver; my breath hitched.

“So you see nothing you like?”

I shook my head, holding on my density.

“What about my eyes?” He said, staring
into mine.

“Don’t you like to see them undressing you
every time they fall on you?”

I couldn’t talk; my insides quivered.

“What about my lips then?”

He brushed a feathered kiss, making me
stiff.

“Don’t you like it when they’re kissing
yours? Or last night, against your sweet, sweet little clit?”

I was positive I lost all awareness. My
mind went wild and twirled endlessly, making me dizzy.

He brought his palm to the small of my
back and slid it under the shirt.

“Don’t you like the feel of my hand
against your soft skin?”

I couldn’t help letting out a moan.

“Never lie to me again, Miss Dane.”

Landon warned, suddenly pulling away and
leaving me wanton and breathless.